Wire-tightener



(No Model.)

$. P; B. TAYLOR 82; S. S. CLARK.

WIRE TIGHTENER. A0. 399 9 u I Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SHAPLEY I ROSS TAYLOR AND STEPHEN S. CLARK, OF DENISON, TEXAS.

WIRE-TIGHTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 399,946, dated March 19, 1889.

Application filed June 13, 1888. $eria1 No. 276,953. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, SHAPLEY P. Ross TAY- LOR and STEPHEN S. CLARK, of Denison, in the county of Grayson and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in \Vire-Tighteners, of which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide a convenient and simple tool for taking up the slack of wire fences; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of twisting-nipper, which we will now proceed to describe with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure l is a side view; Fig. 2, an edge view, and Fig. 3 a partial side view showing the lever-handle thrown back.

In the drawings,A represents a straight metal bar whose end is forked or branched and the branches drawn to points and turned in opposite directions to form twisting-hooks (L a. A short distance from the forked end the bar is slotted down its middle to receive the circular flat portion b of the handle-lever B. This handle-lever is fulcruined in the slot of barA by a bolt, 1-, and is then bent off to one side to a considerable distance from the straight bar A. The object of this is to give a good leverage for turning the bar A about its longitudinal axis in twisting the wire to take up the slack. On the opposite side of the bar Athe lever is extended in the shape of a bent prong, (1, which lies between the twisting-hooks a.

In one edge of the circular flat portion 11 of the lever Bthere is formed a notch or wire seat, e, and at one edge of the slot in the bar A the said bar is beveled to form a knifeedge, 70. This forms a convenient cuttingtool for severing the wire.

In making use of the twisting-tool the straight barAis held in the left hand and the forked hooks a a are straddled upon the wire to be tightened, as in Fig. 2. The tool, with its hooks engaging the wire, is now drawn toward the operator, as in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and is alternately swung from one side to the other as it is rotated by the lever, so as to let its hooks pass by the main length or straight line of the wire. As soon as sufficient twisting has taken up the slack of the wire, the lever-handle B is thrown outwardly or away from the bar A, and this motion causes its opposite end, which lies between the hooks a a, to throw the loop of wire oit the hooks, as shown in Fig. 3, thereby disconnecting the tool from the wire.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is 1. The combination, with a bar having a forked end bent to form hooks, as described, of a lever-handle fulcruined to the barA and having its end extended between. the hooks to form a discharging device for the wire, as set forth.

2. The combination of the bar A, having a longitudinal slot, wit-h knife-edge k: and forked twisting-hooks Ct a, and the offsetting leverhandle B, having flat portion 1), with notch or wire-seat e,fulcrun1ed in the slot of the bar A, and having its outer end extended in the form of a prong between the twisting-hooks a a, substantially as and for the purpose described.

SHAPLEY P. ROSS TAYLOR. STEPHEN S. CLARK.

Witnesses:

FRANZ KOHFELDT, HENRY Down. 

